You Got Him, Now Use Him

“Cha-cha now, y’all.”
------------------- MR. C

We now return you to your regularly scheduled lives …

Marcus Lattimore smirked at the question and threw out a one-liner that would be etched on a plaque somewhere, if he was a quarterback from Jacksonville. Somebody asked how South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier closed the deal with his prized recruit, after a period where Lattimore was deeply concerned about the direction of the Gamecocks’ offense.

“He cha-cha’ed with my mama,” Lattimore said.

The comment drew a lot of laughter and sure made my personal quote Hall of Fame, because I remembered reading about how Spurrier danced with Lattimore’s mother, without music, during one recruiting pitch to the tailback. That little soft-shoe apparently erased Lattimore’s worries if he would be able to live up to his enormous reputation if he came to USC, because he committed on Tuesday and was scheduled to sign on Wednesday.

Steve got him. Now Steve has to effectively use him.

I’ve always been in Spurrier’s corner at USC, because he’s won more games than any other coach has in a five-year period and I took a realistic view of his chances for huge success at USC. Simply arriving wasn’t going to change over 100 years of futility – the guy’s a coach, not a magician.

But even I had to have my doubts after that horrendous performance at the Papajohns.com Bowl. One of my colleagues put it best when I asked him during the game, “How did this team beat Clemson?” and he responded, “This team didn’t.”

That one game destroyed more than a month of goodwill after the Clemson win and once again had fans fretting about the program’s direction. They were legitimate concerns – how could the same team play so well, finally seeming to have the offensive answers, in one game and then return to worse than before in the next?

There were several reasons, which we’ve discussed at length. But on Tuesday, nobody was concerned about that. They were only concerned about which school Lattimore would pick.

He chose USC, parting several gray clouds over the football offices in Columbia. Now Spurrier has got to keep the sun shining.

As in, tweak his offensive plan in order to fully utilize the gift he just received.

I think I’ve been around this site long enough for y’all to know I never buy into recruiting hype. I prefer to follow the lead of Boobie Miles in the wonderful “Friday Night Lights” – “Hype is something that ain’t real. I’m all real.”

In other words, I believe it when I see it.

I have seen it in this case.

The last time I felt this strongly about a recruit was when Stephon Gilmore signed. The time before that, it was about some half-pint from Chester who is currently shredding SEC basketball like a Cuisinart.

Lattimore can play some football. It’s not just the running, with a very impressive combination of speed and power, it’s the receiving. He can take the swing pass 5 yards to the side and already be seeing five busted tackles down the field.

USC has got to use that talent, not try to stick him in an offense where he’s going to be seldom used and never happy.

Spurrier has constantly fallen victim to his own past while he’s been at USC, often avoiding the run in order to throw, even when it’s not working that well. Then when he’s found a good mix of running and passing, he’ll lose his patience, chuck it downfield and hope he’ll see a repeat of Danny Wuerffel to Name That All-Star.

Looking at 2010, USC has great talent at the offensive skill positions, but there’s not much around to block for them. By numbers, sure. By experience and raw offensive line talent, no way.

The Gamecocks are expected to sign several offensive linemen on Wednesday, but the standard in SEC football has been to redshirt linemen during their first year, trying to get them physically ready to handle the abuse that’s coming their way. Not to say none of these guys won’t be able to play right away, but I’m sure the coaching staff would like to build for a full class of fifth-year seniors.

With the veteran linemen on the team, the Gamecocks won’t be able to have a lot of room to pass, and unless they find what allowed them to blow apart Clemson’s defensive line and can duplicate it for 12 games in 2010, won’t have much room to run. That’s why the system needs to be tweaked, using more screens, more sidelines, more swings, more speed.

Lattimore can do that. Jarvis Giles can do that. I’m sure Kenny Miles would be receptive to doing that although he’s fine at bulling through a line, just as Brian Maddox is. In short, with so many rights, how can trying a new approach be wrong?

I have no idea if Lattimore will be as good as his rankings. I’ve seen him play a few times and have never figured him to be another player off the Byrnes assembly line, i.e., a product of the secondary-destroying offense the Rebels have perfected. He’s always been the kind of player that I’ve looked at and thought he was going to be a success, no matter where he went and what system he played in.

The Gamecocks got him. Now they must use him.

Correctly.

Just like last week, USC fans will wake up on Wednesday thinking, “Did that really happen?” Yes, USC beat No. 1 Kentucky last Tuesday and yes, USC nabbed the top-rated running back in the country this Tuesday.

The Gamecocks followed their win over Kentucky with a win over Georgia. Spurrier has a much longer period to wait before he can prove he’s ready to follow up Lattimore’s commitment with an offense that is tailored to suit him.

After five years of struggling to move the ball, the mother of a recruit isn’t the only one who needs to be swept off her feet.

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Packing It In

“I think it’s time we stop, children,
What’s that sound,
Everybody look what’s going down.”
---------------- THE BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD

The country is locked into the worst financial depression since the one that popularized the term.

The death toll in Haiti is at 70,000 and rising after a massive earthquake.

Global warming is soon going to make us all have to walk around wearing 1,000-block suntan lotion.

I have several friends who just lost their jobs.

There are only two Beatles still alive.

Two young athletes, Jeron Lewis and Gaines Adams, died in the prime of their lives and careers from a problem that has felled several young players and seems to have no clue for detection or a cure to stop it.

Try as I might, I can’t forget about her.

Clint Eastwood may never act in another movie (but will probably still direct).

My mother still won’t talk to me about a previous blog I wrote mentioning all of my sins (and this one ain’t going to get me any extra birthday presents).

North Carolina is the defending national basketball champion.

And the Yankees won the World Series.

Over 5,000 Americans have been killed in an ongoing war that seems to have no purpose and no resolution.

The toll on the Southern Connector was raised 25 cents.

Tim Riggins no longer has any high-school eligibility on “Friday Night Lights.”

Jimmy Buffett is playing a concert in Columbia.

After Tiger Woods fell, it seems as if no athlete can ever be unscathed (which is why I keep thanking Dale Murphy).

I’m at an age where my heroes and idols are dying by the gross.

I bet a double-or-nothing kiss the other night and scratched on the 8-ball, losing the kiss and the previous bet where she would have had to wear a Duke T-shirt on our next outing.

My knee still hurts whenever there’s a sudden climate change.

It seems as if we have no politicians who truly have the will to change things, or if they do, they are opposed by the venom of the other side and not allowed to.

There are too many people who still think the best answer for every argument is to pick up a loaded gun.

Technology can build a telephone that can completely run your life, but cannot design a completely safe airplane.

And yet, we could gladly welcome all of it.

If only Eric Mack had come to South Carolina (sob).

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UT's Loss May Be Gamecocks' As Well

“You talk too much,
You never shut up.”
----------- RUN DMC

So The Lane Kiffin Era ends after 14 months, 13 games, seven wins and at least six NCAA recruiting violations. I have to say I’m a little disappointed, because as much of a cannonball as that guy was, he was great for copy, even when the writer is on the beat of another school.

I have no idea why Tennessee students acted the way they did last night, rioting and screaming curses at Kiffin. Maybe in their yet-to-mature heads they can’t grasp the fact that Tennessee football under Kiffin was becoming known more for being a punchline than a knockout. It only took him a few months to publicly snipe at the heavyweight coaches of the SEC, which in turn got them all to bind with the common mission of muzzling that damned fool up on Rocky Top.

He’s gone, off to USC West for a better job, albeit one that may be in for a turbulent few years. The scuttlebutt is that Pete Carroll ditched Southern Cal before the NCAA axe was about to fall, and with Ol’ Kiffikins there to offer his own brand of, ahem, “coaching,” the NCAA may as well move a branch office to USC’s campus.

(Side note: I wonder if Kiffin’s third child, the infamous Monte Knox, will be re-named. Somehow, Monte Compton or Monte South Central doesn’t have the same ring to it.)

But you didn’t read this to hear more witty jabs at Kiffin, who’s as poison to a program as his wife is whiplash-inducing gorgeous. Here’s what the move means for South Carolina.

Trouble.

Tennessee was just getting into the slide of becoming a pick-em every year on the Gamecocks’ schedule. The Volunteers were obviously not the ones of your father, who saw Peyton and Peerless run over the SEC in the late 1990s and then saw at least a winning team in the early 2000s.

That was good for USC. The Gamecocks, with a few more years of strong recruiting and a game or two improvement every year, could get to the point where they’d be picked ahead of their customary fourth or fifth in the SEC East. Kiffin could be one of the best recruiters in the country, but he still hasn’t proven he can coach, which is why no one could look at UT and say, “That’s a future SEC champion.”

I have no doubt the Gamecocks will enjoy a short-lived run of success against UT, perhaps poaching a few recruits who were just dumped on in front of the entire nation and maybe beating the Vols next year and the year beyond. After that depends on who takes over the team.

And that’s where it gets problematic.

First off, athletic director Mike Hamilton needs to be drawn and quartered for the Kiffin fiasco. He’s the one who offered an unproven kid who was born with a red-and-pewter spoon in his mouth the sun and the stars to come to Tennessee, then somehow defended the guy when Kiffin, the propeller on his hat spinning madly, falsely accused Urban Meyer of cheating.

If Hamilton manages to stay employed, he has no choice but to hit a walk-off grand slam to win the World Series, never mind a home run. That kind of under-the-gun pressure may get a terrific coach at Tennessee, which would not be good for Tennessee’s opponents.

Early names have already put Will Muschamp on the radar and a guy who I implicitly trust because he’s from my hometown said that UT has already contacted Phillip Fulmer about being AD or coach, but not both. That’d be nice for the university, since there was no question of Fulmer’s loyalty to the school, and it would bring one of the best personalities of SEC football back to the league.

I have no doubt that Tennessee will make a great hire and eventually the Vols will return to glory. The program is too big and too powerful to stay dormant for long.

Whether it’s at USC’s expense is the problem. Even with the Papajohns.com Bowl debacle fresh in everyone’s heads, USC was looking very good for next year. Returning talent and a nice recruiting class, combined with how the rest of the division was looking, had the Gamecocks sitting in an unusual spot.

They should still be there once the summer rolls around and preseason talk heats. The question is how long will they stay. Meyer’s flip-flopping at Florida won’t change the first year A.T. (After Tebow) and if Georgia doesn’t find a quarterback, it’s in trouble. Kentucky has never been a constant concern to USC and Vanderbilt, although it’s signing a strong class, is coming off a dreadful season.

Tennessee is the only team left. While the new coach may not make that much difference in Year 1, the right new coach will have them on the upswing in Years 2-3. Considering the hiring process that put Kiffin in the coach’s office, I wouldn’t say it’d be out of the question for UT to go after another “pirate” – Mike Leach.

The Gamecocks, I presume, will wait along with everyone else in the next few days to see who UT will hire. I have a feeling that Steve Spurrier is at least a little angry at Kiffin for bolting, not because he wants the guy around, but because he’s deprived of a chance to even or top that 0-1 record he’s got against him.

The right guy at Tennessee eventually puts USC back into its familiar perch. Another Mr. Wrong opens the door a little further for the Gamecocks to squeeze through. If they’re ever going to do it, they need to start now, because this opportunity won’t last for long.

It’s why having Kiffin around was, to an opponent, comforting. He might win a few games every year, but nothing serious. Let him fire his salvos from the top of the mountain while the rest of the league crouched at the bottom, calmly getting ready for the assault as soon as Kiffin began self-destructing. It was never a question of “if.”

It is now. If Tennessee hires a great coach, when will USC begin feeling the fallout?

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An SOS for SOS

“When life is hard, you have to change.”
------------------------------- BLIND MELON

As longtime followers of this space know, I have never coached a down of football, which is why I’m usually very careful about criticizing play-calling. I’m not even that good in PlayStation football – I win because I play with the 1989 49ers, who only lost games when they chose to (but I am one of the greatest Tecmo Bowl players of all time).

But as the fallout from the Papajohns.com Bowl continues to sting like venom thrown from a spitting cobra in the sky, I feel compelled to offer a suggestion.

Looking at what has happened in South Carolina’s last two football games and what the Gamecocks will return next year, you, Steve Spurrier, need to change your offensive approach. USC’s defense is keeping it in a lot of games and should continue to do so, but the Gamecocks cannot win games without points.

I get it, I do. Ask my family, friends, employers, anyone who’s ever known me and they’ll all tell you that I’m the undisputed king of bullheadedness. When I make up my mind that something’s going to work the way I want it to, it will.

Or if it doesn’t, I sure won’t admit it.

This is why I always feel a kinship with you, coach. We’re both too stubborn sometimes to know the right answer is not the one we chose, yet we refuse to do anything about it. Because we are both infallible in everything.

The Gamecocks looked terrific against Clemson and horrible against Connecticut. Not coincidentally, they ran the ball against Clemson and not against Connecticut.

You won at Florida with the pass, as you did at Duke and with the Tampa Bay Bandits.

This ain’t Florida. Never will be.

Run the ball. I’m not saying never pass, but de-emphasize it.

Heavily.

The Gamecocks gave up on the run way too soon against Connecticut. Kenny Miles, Brian Maddox and Bryce Sherman combined for 10 carries. Against Clemson, Miles and Maddox combined for 35.

Again, non-coincidentally, USC rushed for 223 yards against the Tigers and 76 against the Huskies. And I don’t believe it’s because UConn’s defense is that much better than Clemson’s.

The Gamecocks had an awful day in Birmingham and it’s getting worse since. When Moe Brown, one of the nicest kids that’s ever been around this program, is screaming at the receivers coach and then revealing he got caught packing a (legal) gun, you had a bad day. When Miles is Tweeting nasty comments – not that I agree with that Twitter garbage anyway (what the hell happened to privacy?) – you’ve got a problem.

So here’s the solution. Take a long, hard look at the offensive playbook, keep some of those beloved pass plays and junk the rest.

Because it is not working.

The Gamecocks stand to return Miles, Maddox, Jarvis Giles, Sherman and may add another recruit to that stable. Eric Baker, if his knee heals up, should be available by the time the 2010 season rolls around. They’ve got a running quarterback and another potential one, should Stephon Gilmore get more snaps.

They’ve got a trio of tall, speedy receivers in Tori Gurley, Alshon Jeffery and D.L. Moore. They’ve got plenty more pass-catchers who are bidding to get on the field and replace Brown.

Their offensive line is the weakest link. It’s losing two starters and it’s never been a model of consistency even with those two. The biggest problem is it’s still two years away, since the incoming class is going to be a whole lot of freshmen who need to sit, weight-lift and get ready for four years of SEC football.

Take all of those factors, remember the Papajohns.com locker room, and here’s what pops out – pieces of the same offenses that had Georgia Tech and Texas Tech combine for 20 wins this year.

Georgia Tech runs the triple option, which seems to be good for USC if it can get the blocking from the line. The Gamecocks definitely have the backs to do it, and for all of the snobs that turn up their nose at the look of it, just remember – it may be achingly outdated, but all it does is win games.

Plus, there’s new line coach Shawn Elliott, who just spent the past four years helping develop Appalachian State and Armanti Edwards into words synonymous with championships. He probably has a few ideas.

Then there’s Texas Tech, which you would love since the shotgun spread throws the ball so much. It would seem to benefit the weaknesses on the line – the big splits the Red Raiders use widen the defense to create running and passing lanes and give the QB a little more room to operate, since the ends have more ground to cover for a sack.

I say, take a little of both, combine them with what you’ve already got and try it. Admitting you were wrong only stings for a little bit.

Or so I’ve heard.

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Read, then think

“Think.”
------- ARETHA FRANKLIN

I get it.

You’re angy and looking to vent, and you have a right to. South Carolina was terrible, awful, pathetically bad at the Papajohns.com Bowl and you as a fan should be justifiably steamed that such a fine last month put up snake-eyes on its first roll at the table.

But calm down. Ignore the little chicken on your shoulder, the one in place of your conscience, that’s running in circles shouting, “The sky is falling!”

All is not lost.

I make it a policy never to act on anything until I sleep on it. This way, logic kicks in over the rivers of rage and I can present an informed front.

I have to have that approach. Unlike many of you, whatever I post on GamecockCentral.com has my real name beside it, not some handle. I can’t offer up barbs at whoever I feel behind the cloak of anonymity, nor do I want to. It’s part of the job – stay in the middle, scout both sides, present each.

So here it is.

The last game was bad. The season was not. The Gamecocks did exactly what I thought they would – and look it up in the archives if you don’t believe me – by finishing around .500 and going to a low-level bowl.

And at USC, that’s usually as good as it’s going to get.

Sure, you want more, as we all do. I’m still holding out hope the basketball team gets past this horrendous stretch because I have yet to cover an NCAA tournament game and really want to cross that off my list. A BCS bowl game wouldn’t be too bad, either.

But you can’t just look at what you hope will happen. You can’t just think with your heart and not your head. You have to take into account what has happened in all of the years before this one, what is likely to happen this year and then set a reasonable expectation.

This year, reasonable was exactly what occurred. The Gamecocks had questions at quarterback, receiver, offensive line, running back, place-kicker and defensive secondary before the season and questions on the defensive line during it.

I said in the preseason that 6-6 would be satisfactory and anything above that would be time for a parade down Assembly Street. Guess what?

You got 7-6 with a beatdown of Clemson and a radar-boosting win over Ole Miss. Unfortunately, the sixth loss was the last game and that’s what everybody has to remember during the offseason.

The bowl game stunned me, too. I turned to a friend who also covers the team and asked, “How did this team beat Clemson?”

He turned to me and said, “This team didn’t,” which says one hell of a lot.

You’re only as good as your last game and the Gamecocks couldn’t have beat themselves on Nintendo on Saturday. They were ridiculously bad, but as bad as they were, it doesn’t wipe away the games they won this season.

So as I typed up my post-game stuff while trying to unthaw my fingers, I knew what was coming. There would be anger, red-hot steam and boiling vitriol from several folks and all of it would be justified. That it had to come within a two-day stretch that featured a loss of a basketball player, a loss on the basketball court and the seeming loss of a high-profile in-state recruit iced the proverbial cake.

It’s why I held my tongue (and fingers) from replying to some of the nastiest threads, mentioning such well thought-out topics as firing Steve Spurrier and Eric Hyman and anyone who had the slightest bit to do with the Papajohns.com Bowl. Not sure how Hyman’s name ever got in the discussion – go look at the Dodie that’s opening this month and then the department’s books, while considering shutting up.

As for Spurrier, he has never a losing season at USC. The last guy to do that was J.P. Moran, who guided the Gamecocks to a 5-2 record in his only year on the job (1943). There have only been three coaches who were at USC for at least four years and never had a losing record – N.B. Edgerton (1912-15), Billy Laval (1928-34) and Spurrier. In terms of wins in a five-year period under one coach, there’s only one name on top (I’ll leave you to fill in the blank).

Of course we all want more because Spurrier’s never lost like this in his career. We can expect more than this year as well, looking ahead to next year and seeing what’s coming back. SEC champions? I won’t go there, but I can see how some of you could.

As Saturday segued into Sunday and I got back home (finding out some key knowledge on the way – a plastic trash barrel, when hit in the fast lane of I-20 while doing 90 in a Mazda 6, explodes on impact), I was pleased to see most of the hatred dying down. Hiring Shawn Elliott as the offensive line coach helped, as did the whispers of what may be the worst-kept secret in the state – come Feb. 2, all of you are going to be very, very happy.

But there will continue to be some pointed messages, which is the right of all of us. Freedom of speech and all that. Feel free to offer your opinions, suggestions, agreements, denials, etc.

Just please sleep on it beforehand.

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A Letter to the Leader

“Let me be your leader,
Let me have control,
The way I see it,
It’s got to be right for you.

I could be your pilot,
Through the stormy seas,
The way you see it,
It’s just a case of trust in me.

I could be your hero,
I’ll be your piece of mind,
The way that I see it,
It’s got to be good for you.”
----------------------------- NAZARETH

Devan Downey, it is time.

Time for you to take control over your team, and make no mistake, it is yours. With Dominique Archie officially gone for the season and South Carolina in a state of trembling apprehension about how the rest of this year will go, you must take over.

Because that’s what leaders do. And that is what you most certainly are.

Yes, it’s unfair to ask you to be the leading scorer, creator, driver, finisher, big-shot taker and big-shot maker. But as you know from a boyhood in Chester, life ain’t fair.

This cannot be a season of excuse, where the Gamecocks go merely .500 or slightly better and can hang it on, “Well, if Dominique was there …” There is talent on this team, perhaps not as much as before, but there is more than last year.

What it has to do, to use a term avoided by Darrin Horn, is step up. And it starts with you, Devan.

Your scoring has been fine this year. Your ball-handling has not. It’s only going to get tougher, too, with opponents knowing you’ll be the go-to guy and locking down on you. That’s what Wofford did, that’s what Clemson did, and that’s where two of the three losses on the schedule have come from.

I wish I could list something specific for you to do to improve it but you and I know you’ve forgotten more about being a point guard than I’ll ever learn. I’ve known that since the first game I saw you play, back when you were a sophomore at Chester High School with your hair in braids -- Allen Iverson without the ink or the attitude.

You’ve been Superman so many times that when you turned back into Clark Kent a few times this year, it was so unbelievable that I brushed it aside as a bad day. But the bad days kept accumulating, and it all came to a head during the Wofford disaster.

USC rebounded and beat Furman to finish the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule 8-3. That’s not too far off from where the “experts” predicted the Gamecocks would be. You, Devan, scored 16 with eight assists and seven steals to wipe out four turnovers. That is a wonderful game.

Now you’ve got to keep it up, through the final 19 games of the regular season, through at least one game in the SEC tournament. Any games after that are products of what you do.

If you play your game and display the courage and commitment to save this season, your teammates will follow. They have been around you too long not to know of the intense desire to succeed that burns within you.

You’re never going to get another chance to do what you’ve always dreamed of doing. The NCAA tournament is still there. No team has ever been eliminated from an NCAA berth in December and that’s not going to start this year.

This team has one chance, one more year to play with you at the helm. That chance may not get any better for a while than it is right now, even with Archie on the shelf. The youth that will define this team next year and the year beyond could by itself keep the Gamecocks from taking that next step.

Which is why the rest of this year has to be yours, and why you must put this entire team on your back and carry it forward. It would be an absolute disgrace for you to end your spectacular career without ever knowing what it’s like to play in the NCAA tournament.

This team may not be good enough to get to the NCAAs, even with you playing at an All-American pace. I don’t think that’s the case, but the other teams in the SEC may not agree with me.

Your own coach said that Furman was unquestionably your best game. You said you don’t feel any pressure to live up to that every night from here on out.

Those are admirable things to say, but they were coming just before an eight-day layoff. Once the Gamecocks return on Dec. 30, Devan, you will again have to be this team’s leader.

You’ve never needed it before, but I’ll wish you luck anyway. This is your season, your team, your dream.

Good luck.

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Think About the Future

“If feeling this good is a sin,
Let's do it all over again.”
---------------------- STROKE 9

Look around the locker room, South Carolina, and start remembering.

Remember how good a win over Clemson feels. Remember what the mental preparation over the last two weeks was like. Remember how nice it is to walk out of Williams-Brice Stadium after a dominant victory. For the rising seniors especially, remember the smiles creasing the faces of this year’s graduating class.

It is never too early to begin thinking about the 2010 rivalry game. I know there’s going to be 11 games before it (12 if you count this year’s bowl game), but there’s no harm to go ahead and start planning.

Because, Gamecocks, this doesn’t happen every year. I don’t think there’s anybody among you who doesn’t know that – you can read the history as well as the rest of us can and see the 10 wins in 12 years Clemson had in the rivalry before Saturday.

Try to find the last time USC won two in a row over Clemson and it’s even more depressing. Before any of you were ever born, the current color radio man led the Gamecocks to their third straight rivalry win.

That was 1970. Forty years ago once next season’s game pops up.

So as you pat that big gold football on top of the state championship trophy one more time before accepting your well-deserved congratulations, remember.

This can happen again.

No one has any way of knowing what kind of team USC will take to Clemson next year, or what kind of team will be waiting on the Gamecocks. We can all sort-of project, based on seniors and that kind of thing, but there’s too much unknown to accurately predict what could happen a year from now.

But repeating isn’t – and shouldn’t be – nearly as impossible as it has been.

The Gamecocks’ physical part of game-planning for the Tigers was wonderful. The defense had Kyle Parker, C.J. Spiller and company played out. It often seemed as if the defense was calling the Tigers’ offensive sets for them.

The mental part, which has been a two-week process, was also evident. USC didn’t panic and quit playing when Spiller returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. The Gamecocks also didn’t run away when the mistakes kept piling up – an offsides penalty that would have negated Spiller’s touchdown; a should-have been interception from Stephen Garcia; an Alshon Jeffery fumble that Garrett Anderson pounced on; Garcia’s interception that wasn’t dropped. All of that was within the first five minutes.

Yet, USC kept playing. The breaks began to swing USC’s way and the Gamecocks took advantage of them. Then when they got the lead, they didn’t take any plays off – it sure wasn’t what Steve Spurrier is used to (running 58 times) but it worked.

At the end, USC leaped all over the field, exulting in something unfamiliar – a win over Clemson only three tries after the last. In recent history, entire four-year classes of Gamecocks have gone without once knowing what a win over the Tigers felt like; some of the players on this team have two.

“I usually get choked up over stuff like this, and it really hasn’t gotten here yet,” senior Moe Brown said. “The seniors, we were trying to show the underclassmen how to go out the right way.”

Too many times in the rivalry, USC has not had the proper approach to Clemson. Several times, the Gamecocks lost because the Tigers were the better team. A few other times, USC lost because the game was over before it began – the Gamecocks decided they couldn’t win, so they didn’t win.

This year, it was evident USC wanted and needed the win. The Gamecocks got it.

Not to discount it, but what better time to record the memory and use it for the future? Specifically, for Nov. 27, 2010?

That’s when all of the returnees can accurately describe how it felt on Nov. 28, 2009. Then they can show the pictures, videos and recordings taken just after the final seconds ticked off a magnificent win.

“We’ll try to enjoy the win and understand it,” coach Steve Spurrier said.

Looks like the Gamecocks already do.

Now to make sure the future Gamecocks do as well.

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Do They Believe?

“Say what you must, do all you can,
Break all the ------- rules and
Go to hell with Superman.”
----------- BAD RELIGION

One time I saw a bunch of American college kids barely old enough to wipe the stubble off their chins beat an unbeatable team in the Olympics. Another time I viewed a group of never-woulds from Raleigh win a national championship. Still another time I watched a pack of players who finished with the worst record in the National League for three straight years capture a pennant in the fourth.

Call me old-fashioned and behind the times, but I truly believe that heart and belief can win a game. No matter what kind of talent is represented on the other side of the scoreboard, if a team wants to win bad enough, it can overcome.

Clemson is a very talented team and one that is playing extremely well. After being written off after a shocking loss to a bad, bad Maryland team, the Tigers reeled off six straight wins, claimed their division title and looked great doing it.

Of course they seem to have the edge. They’ve won six straight; South Carolina has lost three straight. The Tigers have been scoring with little trouble; the Gamecocks get the ball to the red zone, then begin going backwards.

But this game won’t come down to statistics and who has the better team. It hardly ever does.

It comes down to who wants it the most.

I made a point of talking to upperclassmen this week about their emotions for the game, and each responded that they’re taking Clemson very seriously physically and mentally. The seniors, especially, vowed that the Gamecocks would be up for this game.

Much of that stems from last year’s debacle, when a visibly flat USC team feebly puttered around on a nasty gray day until they could get it over with and look forward to sunny Florida. That brought up the same complaints about Steve Spurrier – great coach, but how serious does he take the rivalry?

Spurrier yanked down all of the “Beat Clemson” signs at Williams-Brice Stadium upon his arrival, saying he wanted to beat everybody, not just the Tigers. It was a curious move – not like the signs were doing that much good anyway – but when Spurrier turned in a 1-3 record against Clemson in four years, some wondered if the Head Ball Coach was taking the game as seriously as he needed to.

Spurrier has said – and repeated this week – that if the Gamecocks weren’t playing for the SEC championship, Clemson becomes the biggest game. I have devoted this space numerous times to that approach, saying it’s a good one, but the players needed to have a lot more motivation for Clemson than they previously had.

Because in my eye, this rivalry comes down to heart and belief much more than X’s and O’s. From having covered both sides of the game, I know Clemson puts a large emphasis on beating USC, going so far as to put a huge poster outside of their locker room.

The Gamecocks seem to get up for the game only when the previous game is done.

This year, it seems to have changed. The situation of last year’s awful performance and the difference between a .500 and respectable 7-5 season this year seems to have played a part in that.

I hope the players truly believe what they’ve said all week, because this rivalry deserves it. The Tigers seem to win most every year because they’re not allowed to lose to the Gamecocks; USC has always seemed to be content with what it could get.

Perhaps that changes beginning Saturday. I can dream of USC’s coaches showing films of past USC-Clemson games and seeing the rampant enthusiasm from all of the Gamecocks after the most routine plays. I can see everyone in garnet channeling their inner Taneyhill and bringing everything for one game, one moment.

I can also see the opposite happening and Clemson extending yet another rivalry winning streak.

But I don’t have to believe that will happen, and neither do the Gamecocks.

They just have to ask themselves what they believe in, and then make it happen.

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English Lesson

I feel compelled.

To all Clemson supporters:

This:


























is NOT A DAMN "O."

I realize it looks cute and is very marketable, replacing the "o" in "Clemson" with it. But it is not, and never will be, a letter of the alphabet.

I know how you will rebut -- "But Dave, USC uses a Gamecock to start 'Carolina.'" No, it doesn't. It uses a block "C" with the bird in it, which still has the letter present.

It offends me as a writer.

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T-minus 13 days

“As long as it matters.”
----------- GIN BLOSSOMS

This is the way it should be.

South Carolina may not have to beat Clemson to claim a bowl berth, but a win makes it definite. It will also give the Gamecocks a great feeling going into the bowl, instead of the disappointment of the past two years.

If they win.

“Everybody’s going to get ready to play really well against Clemson,” quarterback Stephen Garcia said, after labeling the game a “second season.” “It’s a must-win for us.”

Yes, it is.

Not only is this a rivalry game, but it’s a chance for USC to stop a late-season slide and avoid the trap of two seasons ago. With situations being what they are – Mississippi State could very easily lose out and clinch a bowl trip for the Gamecocks, no matter what happens against Clemson – beating the Tigers may not be necessary.

But as of right now, at this moment, it is. The Gamecocks must win, to salvage their pride and their season.

It’s a relief, actually, to see Steve Spurrier’s bunch approach the game in that fashion. They sure didn’t do it last year, already holding seven wins going into Death Valley.

But maybe that’s part of this whole “New Carolina.” The Gamecocks may take their lumps against the rest of the “Orange Crush,” but against Clemson, perhaps a new attitude will be in place.

A win this season will not erase USC’s sorry history in the rivalry – it’ll barely make a dent.

But all revolutions had to start with one act of defiance. This is as good a time as any for USC to begin re-claiming a side in this rivalry.

It’s better for the situation to be this way, for there to be a sense of urgency in winning this game. This column space has long been devoted to explaining how no USC football team seems to truly grasp the significance of the Clemson game, how they play the whole season with the “next game is most important” mindset and then attempt to gear up for the Tigers.

That is a smart way to approach it simply because Clemson is not an SEC rival. I will repeat myself – if the Gamecocks were playing in Atlanta for the SEC championship in three weeks, I would be front and center saying the Clemson game isn’t nearly as important.

But USC, as it always has, was eliminated long ago from title contention. It is at that point, during whatever season, that I have felt the Clemson game becomes top priority.

Having covered the Tigers for a number of years, I know their mindset about USC. They see the Gamecocks as a low hurdle they must clear every season. The Tigers are not allowed to lose to Clemson. If they do it one year, it won’t happen the next.

As the wins have mounted, Clemson has begun to take USC for granted, which is a privilege earned by a constant winner. The Tigers do not base their seasons being a success because of beating the Gamecocks because there has been no fear of the Gamecocks for a long, long time.

That needs to change. And it is a perfect chance for USC to do it beginning this year.

Clemson has got way bigger things on its mind than beating the Gamecocks. The Tigers are gunning for their division title and berth in the ACC championship game, which could lead to a BCS bowl slot. Tailback C.J. Spiller is doing a very fine job of giving Heisman Trophy voters another option to consider, outside of Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy.

USC has two weeks to think about its opponent, heal and take the proper attitude into the rivalry game. Two weeks of watching game film, practicing and getting the bruises cleared up so everybody possible can play.

I say make it two weeks of implanting how important this rivalry is. Begin subtly, by slipping a slip of paper bearing the motto “65-37-4” underneath each plate on the training table and a small sign reading “31-14” just inside the locker room. Pipe in “Tiger Rag” on the PA during weightlifting sessions and begin each film study with a highlight of past USC great moments in the rivalry game.

There is nothing to be lost by trying.

And everything, including another rivalry game, a potential bowl slot and more respect from a long-suffering fan base, by not.

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